Got my goat...

Ohmygosh... the sun is out. Well, sort of. A darn sight better than yesterday and the promise of vital rays brightening our little island this week.

I feel the need for a soap box. A little one perhaps but can't understand why men in particular don't go through their wardrobes and chuck away anything that makes them look pudgy, fuddy duddy, unappealing. And it all comes out at this time of the year somehow. Nasty old jumpers in dubious colours, fraying collars, pleated baggy cords, scuffed weekend shoes. Its as if Saturday morning becomes the lets hunt the comfy frumpy stuff and put it all on in lots of lovely layers. Not to mention the weekend jacket, you know, the smelly old reliable... lots of practical pockets with remnants of last year's tissues or god help us, crusty handkerchiefs hiding in each compartment. And that's if they don't have children or dogs or go fishing.

The alternative... just wonder around Hyde Park over weekend and one can spot the image conscious Italian gent layered in cashmere a mile away. So effortless, so right.

A note on cashmere:

It is no small wonder that cashmere is one of the most precious and prized commodities in the world. It comes from the downy underfleece of the cashmere goat which makes its home in the highest and most inhospitable plateaux of Mongolia and Xinjiang. Each year one goat produces a meagre 4.5 oz of under fleece, which is painstakingly combed out every spring by nomadic herdsmen. It takes the hair of one goat to make a scarf and two or three for a jumper depending on the weight... 60% of each fleece is discarded.

Thank you cashmere goats, much appreciated.

Brand equity...

One of my clients has more equity in her Personal Brand than most. One would imagine that she must be comfortably wealthy, or comfortable at least. A lifetime of service to her industry, the doyenne, the font of all knowledge, the expert. And yet she is not reaping the rewards, not turning this into value.

The result is that she is frustrated, angry, financially challenged and fed up with her industry for not recognising her worth. She feels that she is not in control. And she isn't. She has passed control to the industry... and it's happy to receive the handout.

This is a common problem. Great Personal Brand, little to show for it. So how to fix it? Draw up a table with a list of revenue streams in the left hand column... put your competitors into columns across the top by experience/expertise. List what the market pays per revenue stream for each level of experience/expertise and then write down what you are charging in the far right hand column. This should reveal how you are asking your market to value you.

Next, write a list of all of the free stuff you give away that should go into one of your revenue streams, or that you could create a new revenue stream for.

Last but certainly not least, the rocket science bit: Start charging. Just like everyone else. Its normal. Your market expects it. You may lose a few leeches, however in the process you will achieve a greater perceived value taking future negotiations to another level.

After all, if you don't value yourself, how will anyone else?

The slow march...

There is something rather soulful about this time of the year and yesterday was the first day that I felt that there is no turning back now. The inevitability of winter is upon us, the slow march of days drawing in, settling in. And with it a sense of quiet contemplation preparing to hunker down, to release what has been and sit tight until the promise of renewal visits us again.

So too with our hopes, dreams, careers. A time for reflection, a time to take stock and evaluate. To shed the leaves of the year and let them fall beneath our feet. For they are spent and we have no choice but to let them go.

Be lucky...

Our reputations precede us... and so they should. We need others to know that we are the person that they should seek out in our area of expertise. Without this, we would forever be overlooked, miss out on opportunities that are perfect for us, perfect for our knowledge, experience and skills.

And yet I meet so many clients who are increasingly frustrated by far less qualified colleagues or competitors somehow landing the plum positions, key projects... making headway. And they feel that they should have been the one. That somehow people should have known to approach them. After all, they have more experience, know the market better.

So what is it about these interlopers, these opportunity thieves that makes them so damn lucky, so successful? What are they doing to attract what is rightly yours?

Simple stuff really... they have a strong Personal Brand. Their reputations are working for them, creating the luck, bringing the opportunities. How can you be lucky if no-one knows that you are good at what you do?

Postsecret: A Lifetime of Secrets

The 4th PostSecret book by Frank Warren, A Lifetime of Secrets, came out on the 9th October and is climbing up the Amazon bestseller charts.

If the trailer is anything to go by, this should make for compelling reading.

Order your copy here...

Perception VS spin

I am working with a company that needs an image overhaul of note. In the interests of confidentiality I shall refer to them as the 'fat-cats', which they will no doubt find amusing.

Love their new leaner more 'elegant-cat' corporate brand in which they have invested time, effort, and bundles of lovely money. The issue that they now need to address is their people - not all of them live up to the glossy images and clever words. It seems their market is not buying this makeover, doesn't trust the lick of paint... feels that they are only papering over the cracks.

So we now have the original market perception of fat-cats, fighting with the new brand image of elegant-cats, and it has resulted in what I will politely refer to as a brand incongruency, stronger still, a brand-lie. Or, in terms we are all too familiar with, we now have a typical case of perception VS spin.

Image Culture, like all culture is 'top-down'. I take my hat off to the management team for embracing this next phase of bringing it all together. Without their commitment, not only would fur surely fly, but their competitors would get to make a juicy meal of it.

Fly away...

What a week and without a regular injection of delicious travel, the world seems to get way too small... too pedestrian, too beige. What is it about the stimulation of different yet often strangely familiar, sometimes surprising juxtapositions of sights, sounds, smells that awakens my senses and fuels my soul?

Need to get on a big bird soon.

Groovy Dancing Girl

I absolutely love this!

Savvy, sexy siren...

I do love working with people in the public eye, especially those rather charming creatures who continue to be amazed by their success. They come across as an accidental tourist, stumbling into the public eye with modesty, almost childlike naivety. And we know who they are...

I met with a client yesterday who had decided that this is the Personal Brand that she wants to create. She wants to be perceived by the public in this way. The only problem is that this is not who she is. In all reality, she is a savvy, sexy siren - not an accidental tourist.

The mixed messages that she has been sending have only confused her audience. On the one hand she smolders on screen and off, and on the other, pretends that she is not aware of the effect she produces. She is attempting to balance the dynamism of her persona with a hapless naivety that doesn't exist.

Our Personal Brand or public persona is not something that we can suck out of our imagination... it needs to be authentic, real and consistent to be believed. And yes, we need to adjust how we approach different people, audiences, markets, but not so drastically as to confuse or appear confused.

So back to basics... What makes us unique? Is it the real deal? Are we consistent? Tick all the boxes and then publish, publish, publish.

Kilgour

Gentlemen, Kilgour have recently opened No. 5 Savile Row, their second space. The new store showcases Kilgour Unstructured, seasonal collections focused on a leaner, slimmer silhouette, and luggage and jeans collections - leaving the original flagship store to bespoke.

Designed by Carlo Brandelli, the new store is truly an art gallery aesthetic in a menswear environment with a modern, minimalist interior of pure limestone, against a backdrop of dark oak inlaid with mother of pearl microdots... and stingrays!

Kilgour
No. 5 Savile Row
London W1S 3PE

Frieze Art Fair

The Frieze Art Fair takes place every October in Regent's Park, London. It features over 150 of the most exciting contemporary art galleries in the world. As well as these exhibitors, the fair includes specially commissioned artists' projects and a prestigious talks programme.

Frieze Art Fair and frieze have re-launched the website frieze.com. For a limited time only to celebrate the launch, users can access the complete archive of frieze magazine – a unique research tool on contemporary art covering sixteen years – whilst continuing to stay up-to-date on the current frieze magazine content and news on Frieze Art Fair.

The new site features over 300 exclusive online-only articles every year, including regular city reports, reviews and new multimedia feeds.

To guarantee your ticket to Frieze Art Fair, book before 4 October & benefit from discounts & fast track entry. Advanced booking is highly recommended.

11 - 14 October 2007
Regent's Park
London

Opening dates and hours:
Thursday 11 October 11am - 7pm
Friday 12 October 11am - 7pm
Saturday 13 October 11am - 7pm
Sunday 14 October 11am - 6pm

Box Office and 24-hour credit card hotline:
See Tickets +44 (0)870 890 0514
Group Bookings: +44 (0)879 899 3342
Online Bookings: www.seetickets.com